The Best Birthday Ever!

Hello everyone!  I know, it’s been awhile since I wrote last…I have been busy and been in a “writing rut”.  But, I’m back and hope to write a little more often moving forward.  So, how have you all been doing?  Me, well I’m doing pretty good.  I have been busy with work, traveling, etc, etc, etc.  Same old situation!!  Warren and I took a trip last week, leaving on Thursday morning bright and early, around 7am.  We drove about 9 hours until we arrived in Chicago, along the way stopping a few times and paying tolls, tolls and more tolls.  I have to say, Chicago is a great city and it offers a lot to do but man is it expensive.  Between the tolls, the parking (especially in downtown) and the parking fines – don’t ask me – it takes a “toll” on your wallet, even if you are just passing through.  However, Warren and I did spend a night in downtown Chicago and spent too much on parking, but enjoyed a walk around downtown, a great “Chicago Dog” (or two) and even a few beers along Halstad Street – the gay area of Chicago.  Before leaving Chicago the next morning, we stopped at a local “gay bear” store called “Bears Like Us”.  Here I purchased a t-shirt and a couple of bear stickers for our cars.  It was a cute store.

Leaving Chicago we headed about 3 hours (5 hours with the traffic we were caught in – again, don’t ask!) towards Indianapolis, our destination for the weekend.  Here we were going to be attending the HorrorHound Convention – a semi-annual event in Indianapolis, and our first one.

Of course by now you all know how much I love movies, and especially horror movies.  I attended my very first convention last November in Minneapolis, MN – Crypticon – and had such a good time that I couldn’t resist the road trip to Indy to check out another convention, but on a much larger scale.  The other reason I wanted to attend this particular convention so badly was because I was going to get the opportunity to meet one of my favorite actors growing up, Corey Haim.  I feel like I grew up along with Corey, being the same age and watching each and every movie he starred in beginning with “Lucas” and moving on to my favorite movie of all time “The Lost Boys”.  Corey was made famous by many of his starring roles along side his sidekick Corey Feldman.  Together they starred in at least 8 movies together, and were known by may as the “Two Coreys”.

Since the time I had found out that Corey would be attending the HorrorHound Convention, I knew I had to find a way to make it there to meet him.  Along with meeting Corey, I also wanted to get an original “Lost Boys” movie poster and have him sign it.  Not only did I get the chance to do both of these things this past weekend, I also was able to get two pictures together with Corey…what a dream come true for a movie lover and fan such as I am!  Upon entering the convention area, I was so excited to see Corey along with many other stars of some of my favorite horror movies.  Warren and I took a quick trip around the convention area until I spotted Corey at his table, and upon getting over the nerves (excitement), I walked up and introduced myself  and the rest is now history!!  Yes, I have a newly autographed “The Lost Boys” poster in my room as well as two personal photos and a lifetime of memories.

Following my dream meeting with Corey, Warren and I proceeded to have a couple of my other movie posters signed including “Friday the 13th 2009″ – signed by the star of the movie and the “new Jason” Derek Mears; my “My Bloody Valentine” poster signed by “The Miner” Chris Carnel; and my “Hellraiser Bloodline” poster signed by Pinhead himself (and my favorite character of horror) Doug Bradley!  I now have art to go across our walls and to remind me of this great weekend all of my life.  In addition to these autographs, we also get to meet and get signed items from: Billy Wirth (The Lost Boys), Brooke McCarter (The Lost Boys), John Kassir (the Cryptkeeper – Tales From The Crypt) and J.D Feigelson (writer of Dark Night of the Scarecrow).

Here’s a look at some personal photos taken during our tour around the convention:

Pics from top to bottom, and left to right: Corey Haim, Doug Bradley, Derek Mears, Billy Wirth, Tom Savini, and Luke Goss (Warren’s personal favorite of the festival).   These are just a few of the many wonderful pictures we both took.  As I said, I will have memories to last a lifetime.  Besides the meet and greets…and the autographs…I also bought a few t-shirts including a HorrorHound Weekend tee from the last convention held in August of 2008, a Lost Boys tee with David the vampire (Keifer Sutherland) on the front of the shirt, and “The Lost Boys” movie logo across the back.

At the convention, there was also a mask area taking up the back 1/3 part of the room.  On display here was a large variety of masks made famous in many of the horror movies from past and present, along with some sci-fi movies and a few classics (i.e Count Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, etc).  In the days and weeks ahead, I will try to share some of these images with you as Warren and I took pictures of many of these masks.  In addition there were some training classes being held in the back of the room, teaching people how to create these masks and images as done so wonderfully over the years in film by Tom Savini (seen above).  Tom has a school which aspiring artists could attend to learn how to create these images, and I would love to be able to attend this school…too bad I’m short on money and talent!

Other activities over the weekend of horror included screenings of a number of horror films from past and present.  The one film that I really wanted to watch again was “Dark Night of the Scarecrow”.  This was a classic film, which came out in 1981 originally and was made-for-tv.  I haven’t seen this film in many years, and because it hasn’t been released on DVD as of yet, I wanted to see the restored version before it hits DVD (October of 2009).  Although Warren doesn’t care for horror films, I convinced him to sit through the viewing, and I believe that he truly enjoyed the movie.  Because it was made especially for television back in the early 80’s, there is not much blood and/or gore, so I told Warren he would be safe.  The film, although lacking all of the gore of today’s films, is truly scary in it’s own way.  Following the screening of the film, the writer J.D. Feigelson who we had met earlier in the day, did a Q&A session for the fans…this was pretty cool.  J.D. is a great person, and provided a lot of insight on the film and how it came about.

Here is a quick look at the storyline…A retarded man is unjustly accused of attacking a young girl. Disguised as a scarecrow, he hides in a cornfield, only to be hunted down and shot. Later, after it is revealed he saved the girl from a vicious dog attack, members of the search posse are killed by a mysterious scarecrow.

On Saturday night, following the screening of this film, and a stop at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant for a sandwich and side, we headed back to the Marriott hotel, and the convention to spend some time lounging in the after party area where we shared a beer and watched the interactions of the convention goers and the stars.  We spent a couple of hours just hanging out and chilling.  It was a nice, relaxing night and I enjoyed the entire day.  The following morning we got packed, headed out of Indianapolis in the middle of a rain storm and made our way back about 10 hours until arriving back in St. Paul, MN.  Yes, it was good to be back home in many respects, but I truly missed our time away and our weekend full of fun.  What made this weekend so great was that is was my birthday on Saturday – Happy 36th Steve – and I was able to get away and spend some quality time with my partner Warren.  We had a blast, and I look forward to the next “road trip”.

Now it’s back to reality, including the daily grind of work…and battling an April snowstorm….welcome to Minnesota people!!!  The good news is that Warren and I are in talks to head out to San Fransisco, CA in September to take part in the Folsom Street Fair.  In addition we hope to take a day or two to travel around Los Angeles and check out the sites – including Hollywood and maybe even a new tatoo for me by Kat Von D – of L.A. Ink fame.  I’m also looking forward to our next horror convention, whether in Minnesota this fall or somewhere else around the country, wherever it may be we will have a great time.

Until next time, take care and enjoy.

Steve